Cut Spike 2.0

We got 450 bottles of Cut Spike's most recent whisky batch delivered on Monday. By the end of last night we'd sold more than 50% of that inventory. Within 48 hours of our notice we cleared out 230 bottles of single malt whisky from Nebraska! N-U-T-S. The good news, both for us and especially for the guys at Cut Spike, is that most of these were repeat purchases. People were begging for more, not merely scratching a curious itch. Selling the first bottle in this business is the easy part; it's the second and third bottles that take real talent and great juice. With whisky drinkers always looking for the next great adventure, getting them to recommit is not an easy task. Considering I've been emailed every week by multiple customers about the potential ETA for a Cut Spike return, I'd say these guys have created quite the buzz. People are drinking this stuff, emptying their bottles, and coming back for more.

Based on the current trajectory, I'd say we'll be sold out completely by the end of the week. That's likely all we'll see until late Spring.

Cut Spike Nebraska Single Malt Whisky $59.99 - At first we couldn't believe our mouths. We knew that Cut Spike single malt had just taken Double Gold honors at the 2014 San Francisco Spirits competition (the highest possible honor), so obviously other people thought it was good, too. But after tasting so many mediocre American attempts at single malt whisky, we had become accustomed to the idea that the Scottish style of distillation would never be recreated here at home. There would be spin-offs, and experimental gasps at greatness, but that supple, malty profile would simply be something we needed to import from abroad. Then the folks at Cut Spike sent us a sample of their two year old Nebraskan single malt whisky made from 100% malted barley on a pot still crafted in Rothes, Scotland. Fermented at the brewery next door to Cut Spike in La Vista, the malt was matured for two years in new American oak with varying levels of char. The result is an incredible hybrid: soft, barley and vanilla-laden whisky that tastes somewhat like your standard Scottish single malt, but has its own unique character simultaneously. It's the kind of whisky that you taste once and enjoy, but then the next day suddenly crave intensely. It impresses you instantly, yet doesn't really reveal its full character until weeks later. The new oak blurs seamlessly into the malty mouthfeel, adding a richness on the finish normally not tasted in standard Scottish selections. Cut Spike is a major accomplishment for American distillation, pure and simple.

-David Driscoll